OF THE ANCIENT PLACES ON THE ROAD FROM ADALIA TO SHUGHUT, INCLUDING
REMARKS ON THE COMPARATIVE GEOGRAPHY OF THE ADJACENT COUNTRY.
_Ancient Authorities—Cotyaeium—Termessus—Lake Ascania—Milyas—
Cibyra—Selge—Pednelissus—Cretopolis—Lyrbe—Sagalassus—Cremna—
Lysinoe—Sinda—Isionda—Tabæ, Tiaba—Mender-su at Sandukli the
ancient Obrimas—Ancient Sites on the four Roads of the Table,
which cross the modern Route from Adália to Shughut—Themisonium—
Cormasa—Celænæ or Apameia—Eumeneia—Apollonia—Euphorbium—Conni—
Eucarpia—Acmonia—Cadi—Azani—Synaus._
I shall now submit to the reader some observations on the ancient
geography of the route of General Koehler and his party from Adália to
Shughut.
This road traverses a part of Asia Minor upon which ancient history
throws little light. The text of Strabo is almost contradictory in
regard to some of the principal places which lay near the road; and the
itineraries supply no routes in this direction, though there are five in
the Peutinger Table which intersect it.
The march of Alexander from Pamphylia to Gordium in Phrygia, as related
by Arrian; and the description by Livy of the progress of the Consul
Cneius Manlius in his Expedition from Cibyra into Pamphylia and from
thence by Sagalassus to Synnada and into Galatia, are the only historical
documents. As the passage of Livy is very detailed and was borrowed from
Polybius[149], its information deserves more confidence than is usually
due to that of a Latin author in regard to Grecian geography; and it
may hereafter be extremely useful, when the ancient ruins, with which
Pisidia and the adjacent districts are known to abound, shall have been
more explored. In the present state of our knowledge of the country, it
supplies not much positive information.
The only point in General Koehler’s route which can be considered
absolutely certain is Cotyaeium. The position of that city in Phrygia
Epictetus, not far from Nacoleia, and Dorylæum[150], agrees perfectly
with that of Kutáya, the resemblance of which name to the Greek Κοτυάειον
is still more striking when we observe the identity of accent.
There are two other places also in General Koehler’s route, upon the
ancient names of which we cannot entertain much doubt. These are
Termessus and the lake Ascania. The latter corresponds with the salt
lake of Burdur; for Arrian relates that Alexander, after having reduced
Sagalassus and some other strong places in Pisidia, passed by the lake
Ascania in his way to Celænæ (afterwards Apameia), and that the water
of this lake was so salt, that the inhabitants had no need of sea salt
for domestic purposes[151]. The same fact is mentioned by the anonymous
geographer of Ravenna. Perhaps this is the lake Ascanius, of which Pliny
remarks, that the upper surface of the water was fresh, while the lower
was nitrous[152].
The great ruins which General Koehler passed through at the ascent of the
mountains, on the second day of his departure from Adália, seem to be
those of Termessus, which, next to Selge, was the largest of the Pisidian
cities, and was situated at the passes of mount Solyma, leading from
the maritime plains through Milyas to the lake Ascania[153], and from
thence to Celænæ. Milyas was the country of the more ancient Solymi[154];
and being also described by Strabo as the mountainous district, which
extended from the passes of Termessus to the district of Apameia, it
answers exactly to the elevated region which General Koehler traversed
after he had mounted the pass which I have supposed the Termessian.
Between Milyas and the valley of the Mæander were Cabalis and the
Cibyratis[155]. The latter district, which long flourished under the
monarchy of a family named Moagetes[156], was a tetrapolis; the four
cities were, Cibyra, which had two votes in the general council, Œnoanda,
Balbura, and Bubon. The Cibyratis is clearly indicated by Strabo to have
been situated between Lycia and the parts of the valley of the Mæander
about Nysa and Antiocheia[157]; in the height of its prosperity, its
dependencies extended from Pisidia and Milyas to Lycia and Peræa of the
Rhodii[158]. Balbura and Bubon having been given to Lycia by Murena, on
the reduction of the last Moagetes, and Œnoanda having been included
in the same province, in the arrangement of Constantine[159], while
Cibyra was ascribed to Caria, it may be presumed that Cibyra lay to the
northward of the three other cities. This in some measure agrees with
Ptolemy, who places Bubon, Œnoanda, and Balbura in a district of Lycia
called Carbalia; under this name, as a part of Pamphylia, he ranges also
Termessus, Cretopolis, and six other towns; Cibyra he places in Phrygia.
Such are the data afforded by ancient history, to assist the traveller in
discovering the sites of the four cities of the Cibyratis.
Polybius[160], in his account of the proceedings of Achæus, king of
the provinces _within_ Taurus, against Antiochus the Great[161], has
furnished a few data as to the situation of some of the towns on the
frontiers of Pisidia and Pamphylia. In relating the operations of
Garsyeris, commander of the army of Achæus, whose ostensible object was
to assist the people of Pednelissus against the Selgenses, Polybius
appears to apply the name of Climax to all the ridge of the mountains
Solyma, from the summit called Olympus on the shore of the Gulf of
Attaleia, to the great heights of Taurus. Garsyeris was at first unable
to penetrate through the passes of Mount Climax, leading to Pednelissus,
because they were occupied by the Selgenses, and particularly the pass
of Saporda—a place not mentioned by any other author. We know from
Strabo[162], that Pednelissus was situated inland from Aspendus; and
it has been seen that the principal pass of the Solyma was commanded
by the city of Termessus: Saporda, therefore, may perhaps have stood
at another pass which leads over the ridge of Solyma from Adália in
a W.N.W. direction to Dauas and Denizli. Cretopolis in Milyas, where
Garsyeris encamped before he attempted the passes, is shown from this
circumstance to have been on the western side of Mount Climax: and
the Etennenses, who, together with the Aspendii, joined the party of
Achæus against Selge, are stated by the historian to have inhabited the
mountains above that city,—being thus obviously the same people as the
Catennenses of Strabo[163]; who describes them as bordering on Selge and
the Homonadenses.
Lyrbe, which, as well as Etenna, was still a bishopric in the ninth
century[164], under the metropolitan of Side, seems, from some verses of
Dionysius of Charax[165], to have stood between Termessus and Selge, a
little above the maritime plains, among hills once covered with olives,
but now affording little but pasture.
There is great difficulty in reconciling the authority of Arrian with
that of Strabo in regard to the site of Sagalassus, otherwise called
Selgessus[166], one of the most important cities and most fertile
districts in Pisidia[167]; and which could not have been far from the
route of General Koehler. Arrian, in a passage already referred to,
seems to place it to the south of Burdur[168]; thus far agreeing with
Strabo, who, after describing the cities on the southern side of Mount
Taurus, just noticed, remarks that Sagalassus was _within_, or on the
northern side of Taurus, near Milyas[169], which district, as he tells us
in another place, extended northward as far as those of Sagalassus and
Apameia[170].
Strabo further informs us[171], that Sagalassus was one day’s journey
from Apameia; whereas Arrian relates that Alexander was five days in
marching from Sagalassus to Celænæ, passing by the lake Ascania.
Nothing but an examination of this country by an intelligent traveller
can clear up this difficulty, or explain the passage of Strabo cited in
the note below; and for this purpose the ruins seen by Paul Lucas in this
country, and the others heard of by General Koehler, probably contain
ample materials. The remarkable site which gave name to Cremna[172] could
hardly elude research; and it is the more likely to preserve some remains
of antiquity, as having been a Roman colony.
If by the _lake_, mentioned in the march of Manlius, Polybius, from whom
Livy has taken all this part of his history, meant the lake of Burdur,
Lysinoe may have occupied the site of Burdur; or more probably some
situation near the opposite end of the lake, where the future traveller
may perhaps find the river Lyses, from which Lysinoe seems to have taken
its name. And this might also lead to the discovery of the lake Caralitis
and Sinda[173].
It is evident from the passage of Livy just cited, that Sinda and
Isionda were different places, and not the same place as has sometimes
been supposed. Livy seems to agree with Strabo in placing Sinda to the
northward of Cibyra at the extremity of Pisidia bordering on Caria and
Phrygia; whereas Isionda appears clearly to have been on the Pamphylian
side of Termessus[174].
Dombai seems to be a corruption of Tabæ: hardly, indeed, a corruption, as
it is no more than the hard and rustic pronunciation of the Greek word
Τάβαι. The situation of Dombai accords very well with that which Strabo
assigns to Tabæ, for he places it in the part of Pisidia adjacent to
Phrygia and Caria[175], and names it among the cities which lay around
Apameia and Laodiceia, which is precisely the position of Dombai[176].
The fertile plain which has obtained the name of Dombai-ovasi, or
Valley of Dombai, corresponds equally with the Ταβηνὸν πεδίον, which,
according to another passage of Strabo, lay on the confines of Phrygia
and Pisidia[177]. It can hardly be doubted that Livy has incorrectly
described Tabæ as situated on the frontier of Pisidia towards the
Pamphylian sea[178].
The river called the Mender-su, which General Koehler crossed at
Sandukli, seems to be that branch of the Mæander anciently called
Obrimas, the fountains of which were something more than two days’
march from Synnada, and not far from Metropolis on the side towards
Apameia[179]. The modern application of the name Mæander (slightly
corrupted) to a stream which was anciently considered a tributary of
that river, is another instance of those natural changes of geographical
nomenclature, of which a similar example has already been given in the
case of the river Sangarius.
It has already been remarked, that General Koehler’s route was crossed
by five of the Roman roads marked in the Peutinger Table. These are,
beginning from the southward, 1. From Laodiceia ad Lycum to Perge;
2. From Apameia Cibotus to Antiocheia of Pisidia; 3. From Apameia
to Synnada; 4. from Apameia to Dorylæum; 5. From Philadelphia to
Dorylæum.—The real situations of all these cities, except Antioch, being
known with sufficient exactitude, those of the intermediate places on
the several roads would also have been determined, had the distances in
the Table been accurate; but unfortunately, like some of those to which
I have already had occasion to advert, they are either imperfect or they
are obviously erroneous, when compared with the map.
1. From Laodiceia ad Lycum to Perge, passing through Themisonium and
Cormasa.—Although the direct distance is upwards of 100 G. M. there
are only 46 M. P. marked in the Table, namely, 34 between Themisonium
and Cormasa, and 12 from Cormasa to Perge. If these two distances
were correct, therefore, the omitted distance between Laodiceia and
Themisonium ought to be supplied with about 100 M. P. It is impossible
to believe however that Themisonium, which is named by Strabo among the
smaller towns around Apameia and Laodiceia[180], could have been so far
to the south-east. Cormasa, on the other hand, must have been much more
than 12 M. P. from Perge; for it appears from Livy that Cormasa was at a
considerable distance from the borders of Pamphylia towards Lysinoe and
the lake of Burdur[181]; which agrees with Ptolemy, who names it among
the cities of Pisidia and next to Lysinia. The suspicion of inaccuracy in
this route of the Table is confirmed by the negligences which occur on
its continuation to Side; where the distance between Perge and Syllium
is wanting, and where Syllium and Aspendus occupy each other’s places.
Upon the whole, therefore, this route serves only to give us the line of
Themisonium and Cormasa, the distance between which two places (34 M. P.)
may perhaps be correct. And so far it may be an useful approximation to
the traveller.
2. From Apameia to Antiocheia of Pisidia.—There cannot be a stronger
proof of the little progress yet made in geographical discovery in Asia
Minor, than the fact, that the site of Apameia still remains unexplored.
Under the name of Celænæ, it was the capital of Phrygia; and in Roman
times, although not equal in political importance to Laodiceia, which was
the residence of the proconsul of Asia, it was inferior only to Ephesus
as a centre of commercial transactions[182]. It appears from Pococke to
have been at a place called Dinglar (or some such name), situated, as
well as we can discover amidst the negligence and want of precision which
are the usual characteristics of Pococke’s narrative, at 8 or 10 miles
on the right of the road leading from Khónos to Ishékle[183], and about
16 miles[184] to the southward of the latter place. Pococke himself had
no doubt that some remains of antiquity which he observed at Ishekle
were those of Apameia; thus overlooking, or failing to decypher, an
inscription which he copied at that place, and which clearly proves it to
be the site of Eumeneia or Eumenia[185].
Eumenia was situated on the river Glaucus, as appears from an existing
coin[186]. Pliny names the Glaucus, but places Eumenia upon the river
Cludrus. Possibly this may have been the name of the sources of the
Glaucus, those fine fountains which Pococke observed at Ishékle, and
which may perhaps join another stream in or near the town.
As Eumenia is marked in the Table on the road from Dorylæum to Apameia
at 26 M. P. from the latter, we have a presumption in this datum alone
that Apameia was not far from Dinglar, the site of which modern place,
relatively to the other chief ancient cities of Phrygia, is in conformity
with that of Apameia, as described by Strabo[187]. Our knowledge of the
peculiarities of the place itself is derived from Pococke and some recent
travellers, who were informed that at the place called Dinglar or Dizla
there are many remains of antiquity under a high hill which has a lake
on the summit and a river falling down the face of the hill; for this
description of Dinglar accords precisely with that of Celænæ as given
by several ancient authors. According to Xenophon[188] the Mæander rose
in the palace of Cyrus, flowing from thence through his park and the
city of Celænæ: and the sources of the Marsyas were at the palace of
the king of Persia in a lofty situation under the acropolis of Celænæ.
From Arrian and Q. Curtius[189] we learn that the citadel was upon a
lofty precipitous hill, and that the Marsyas fell from its fountains
over the rocks with a great noise: from Herodotus[190] it appears that
the same river was from this circumstance called Catarrhactes; and from
Strabo[191], that a lake on the mountain above Celænæ was the reputed
source both of the Marsyas, which rose in the ancient city, and of the
Mæander. Comparing these authorities with Livy[192], who probably copied
his account from Polybius, with Pliny[193], with Maximus Tyrius[194],
and with the existing coins of Apameia[195], it may be inferred that a
lake or pool on the summit of a mountain which rose above Celænæ, and
which was called Celænæ or Signia, was the reputed source of the Marsyas
and Mæander; but that in fact the two rivers issued from different parts
of the mountain below the lake: that the lake was named Aulocrene, as
producing reeds well adapted for flutes, and that it gave the name of
Aulocrenis to a valley extending for ten miles from the lake to the
eastward: that the source of the Marsyas was in a cavern on the side
of the mountain in the ancient agora of Celænæ: that the Marsyas and
Mæander, both of which flowed through Celænæ, united a little below the
ancient site: that to this junction the city was removed by Antiochus
Soter, son of Seleucus Nicator, when he gave it a new name after his
mother Apama; and that the united stream was soon afterwards joined
by the Orgas and the Obrimas. Whether these inferences drawn from the
ancient authors are correct, will be decided by the future traveller.
He may also ascertain whether there are any volcanic rocks, the burnt
appearance of which will justify the etymologist[196] who ascribed to
that cause the origin of the word Celænæ; or he may discover the valley
of Aulocrenis, the scene of the celebrated contest of Apollo with
Marsyas, whose skin was still shown in the time of Herodotus, in the
acropolis of Celænæ[197].
I have been thus particular in laying before the reader the ancient
evidences on the site of Apameia, because it is a point of great
importance to the ancient geography of the western part of Asia
Minor,—not less so than Tyana is to the eastern: and because in regard
to both these places, I have the misfortune to differ from the author in
whose opinion the public is justly in the habit of placing the highest
confidence[198].
The Roman road from Apameia to Antiocheia of Pisidia passed through
Apollonia, otherwise called Mordiæum[199], which was 24 M. P. distant
from the former, and 45 from the latter. Although on account of our
ignorance of the site of Antiocheia, no exact comparison can be
instituted between the amount of the two numbers just mentioned and the
actual distance on the map, it is manifestly not very erroneous; and the
position of Apollonia therefore was probably at no great distance from
a town called Ketsibúrlu, which General Koehler passed through between
Burdur and Dombai, and which according to Abubekr Ben Behren is a kadilik
of Hamed, of which Isbárta is the chief city. Ptolemy places Apollonia
near Antiocheia; and its situation, between that city and Apameia, which
the Table gives, is in exact conformity with Strabo’s description of the
conquests of Amyntas. Having taken Derbe, and received Isauria from the
Romans, he made himself master of Antiocheia, and the country as far
as the district of Apollonia, near Apameia Cibotus[200], together with
Lycaonia and some part of Phrygia Paroreius. He took Cremna, but did not
venture on attacking Sandalium: and after capturing the greater part
of the places belonging to the Homonadenses, (whose tyrant he slew,)
he was himself destroyed by a stratagem of the wife of the latter.
Sulpicius Quirinius and the Romans afterwards reduced Homona:—all the
late territories of Amyntas were then placed under the government of a
præfect[201].
3. The ancient road from Apameia to Synnada must have crossed that of
Gen. Koehler at or near Sandukli, on the river now called the Mendere
(Mæander), but which anciently, I suppose to have been the Obrimas, a
branch of the Mæander. The total distance of 73 Roman miles on this road
agrees tolerably with the 66 geographical miles in direct distance,
which the map gives between the assumed site of Synnada and that of
Apameia at Dinglar. Euphorbium, the only place on the road mentioned
in the Table, and which was midway between the two extremes, will fall
at Sandukli. Euphorbium is noticed as a town in this part of Asia by
Pliny only, who tells us that its people formed,—together with those of
Metropolis, Peltæ, Acmonia and some other towns,—the _conventus_ held
under the Romans at Apameia[202].
4. The fourth Roman road which crossed the modern route from Adália to
Shughut, is that marked in the Table from Dorylæum to Apameia Cibotus,
leading through Nacoleia, Conni, Eucarpia, and Eumenia[203]. Although
the total distance of 148 M. P. on this road sufficiently agrees with
the 100 G. M. in direct distance on the map, it must be confessed that
the 26 Roman miles and the 15 geographical miles of direct distance,
between Eumeneia at Ishékle and Apameia at Dinglar, do not bear the
same proportion as the Roman and geographical numbers on the whole line;
and that, if I am right in the position of Nacoleia, the 20 M. P. of the
Table, between Dorylæum and Nacoleia, errs almost as much in defect, as
the 26 M. P. between Eumeneia and Apameia does in excess. But it is in
vain that we look for much accuracy of detail in the Table. The positions
of Nacoleia and Eumeneia rest upon very satisfactory grounds. All that
remains to be done, therefore, is to arrange Conni and Eucarpia between
Doganlu and Ishékle, at the proportional distances of the numbers in the
Table. This will place Conni not far to the southward of Altun Tash, near
where the roads to Altun Tash, both from Karahissár and from Sandukli,
cross the ancient road; a position which agrees with that of Conna in
Ptolemy[204], according to whom it appears to have been not far from
Cotyaeium, to the southward. Under the Byzantine emperors, Conna (then
called Cone[205]) was a bishopric of the province of Phrygia Salutaris,
of which Synnada was the metropolis.
Eucarpia was another bishopric of the same province. Its name was derived
from the fertility of the soil[206], which by attaching the people to
agriculture may have contrasted them with those of the neighbouring
Euphorbium, celebrated probably for its flocks and pasture. The position
of Eucarpia in the Table agrees with that which Ptolemy gives it to the
southward of Conna.
5. The fifth and last of the ancient roads intersected by the modern
road from Adália to Shughut was from Dorylæum to Philadelpheia: its two
extremities are known points; its length in direct distance is equal to
two degrees of latitude, or 120 G. M., which corresponds with as much
accuracy as one can expect to the 155 M. P. of the Table. The _line_, as
will be seen on referring to the map, leads directly through Kutáya. We
cannot doubt therefore that _Cocleo_, the first name occurring on this
road in the Table, is an error for Cotyaeio; especially as the distance
of 30 M. P. answers very well to the real distance from Eski-shehr
to Kutáya. The distance of 35 M. P. between Cotyaeium and Acmonia
furnishes the traveller with a good approximation for discovering the
site of the latter city, which is mentioned in one of the Orations of
Cicero[207], and which was one of the towns of the conventus of Apameia,
and afterwards a bishopric under the metropolitan of Laodiceia. It is
difficult to reconcile the position of Aludda, 25 miles beyond Acmonia on
the road to Philadelpheia, with that which may be inferred from Ptolemy,
who names Alydda among the towns of the greater Mysia, together with
Pergamum and Apollonia on the Rhyndacus. Clanudda I suspect to be an
erroneous writing; but its correction I am unable to discover.
It is in the unexplored part of Phrygia Epictetus[208], lying between the
Thymbres and the branches of the Rhyndacus on the southern side of the
Olympene mountains, that the future traveller will seek for the Phrygian
cities of Cadi, Azani, and Synaus. One is much disposed at first sight to
consider the remarkable position of In-óghi, which General Koehler passed
through in his way from Kutáya to Shughut, to have been the site of one
of these cities of Phrygia Epictetus; but upon further examination, they
all appear to have been situated considerably to the westward of this
position. The Azanitis, or district of Azani, contained the sources of
the river Rhyndacus, which, after passing through the lake of Apollonia,
joined the Propontis opposite the island of Besbicus, having first
received the united waters of several streams from Mysia Abrettena,
particularly the Mecistus, which flowed from Ancyra Abassitis, a Phrygian
town on the frontier of Lydia[209]. Synaus appears to have been near
this Ancyra; for in the acts of one of the Councils, a bishop of the
Phrygian Ancyra signs himself Αγκύρας Συννάου, no doubt in order to
distinguish this Ancyra from the Galatian. Cadi also may be presumed to
have been to the westward of the meridian of In-óghi and Kutáya; for we
find that Cadi is assigned by some authors to Mysia[210]. It is precisely
in the situation, which may be inferred from this circumstance, combined
with what has been said of the position of Synaus and Azani,—that is to
say, between the Thymbres and the sources of the Rhyndacus,—that we find
a town of the name of Kodús, which has not been visited by any modern
traveller, but which is briefly described by Hadji Khalfa—as situated
on the banks of a river, in a plain surrounded by mountains. He adds
that the river, which bears the same name as the town, descends from
Mount Morad, and passes by Magnesia into the Gulf of Smyrna. We know
from modern travellers, that this river, which is the ancient Hermus, is
still called Kodús or Ghedís in all the lower part of its course; and
Kodús, it can hardly be doubted, is the same place as Καδοί, the name of
which the Turks received from the Greeks, in the usual Romaic form of the
accusative case Καδούς.
In exploring the equally unknown country which extends to the southward
of this part of Phrygia Epictetus, towards the mountains Messogis and
Tmolus, and which formed the frontier of Lydia and Great Phrygia, the
traveller may derive assistance from a passage in Strabo[211], where
he enumerates the principal plains in their order from west to east.
Adjacent to the Caystrian, which lay between Tmolus and Messogis, was
the Cilbian, then the Hyrcanian, the plain of Cyrus, the Peltene, the
Cillanian, and the Tabene. It cannot be doubted that a journey through
these plains would lead to a knowledge of the general distribution of
the geography of the country, as well as to that of the sites of some
of the towns which gave name to the several plains. Peltæ, Lysias,
and Silbium appear to have been in the country northward of the upper
Mæander, which is traversed by the caravan route from Smyrna to Tokát:
but the few names and distances which Tavernier and Seetzen have left us
between Alláh-Shehr and Karahissár, throw no light whatever upon ancient
geography.